At Colorado Association of Libraries Conference

One of our favorite places to exhibit Filter Press books each year is at the Colorado Association of Libraries conference. The 2007 conference was held Nov. 8-10 at the John at the John Q. Hammons Convention Center/Holiday Inn DIA in Denver with the theme Get RadiCAL 2007. The conference is always well attended by enthusiastic, committed professionals who enjoy talking about books as much as we do. (And they help us write some orders!)

This year’s conference was lots of fun for many reasons. Our son Brad attended his first CAL conference as a librarian from Colorado Mountain College. He is completing his first year of work at CMC’s Spring Valley campus after receving an MLS from the iSchool at University of Texas. Brad was able to visit with Dr Loriene Roy, one of his professors at UT Austin and president of the American Library Association. Dr. Roy was able to address the question “Can an ALA President Get RadiCAL?” in her presentation to the conference. 

Filter Press authors gave two presentations at the conference. On Saurday morning, Joyce Lohse, John Stansfield, Emily Warner, Dottie Lamm, Mel Bacon, and Dan Blegen collaborated on the topic Delighting in Colorado History Through Storytelling, Interviews, and Research. Joyce is a geneologist and historian; John a gifted storyteller and writer; Emily and Dottie have insight into the interview process from researcher and subject perspectives; Mel and Dan have extensive experience in public education and historical research. Judging by attendee feedback, the program was a big hit. You can get a sense of the presentation from handouts.

On Saturday afternoon, Emerita Romero-Anderson, Nancy Oswald, and Mary Peace Finley presented  Colorado Cultural Convergence: Spanish Settlements, Native American Peoples, and American Expansion.  These three talented writers help young readers gain a sense of place and an understanding of cultural influences.  They told how they were drawn to Colorado history and culture - and how they have used the knowlwdge in their books. Emerita’s Now You Know Bio tells about Jose Dario Gallegos, merchant and early settler of Colorado’s San Luis Valley. Nancy’s book Nothing Here But Stones  is based on a Russian Jewish colony’s attempt to settle in the Colorado mountains in 1880’s. Mary’s Santa Fe Trail Trilogy follows Julio Montoya and his sister Teresita on a trip of self discovery set along the Santa Fe Trail in the 1840s.  

And while libraries were on our mind, we enjoyed Future Reading  by Anthony Grafton in the Nov. 5  New Yorker. Grafton speculates on Google Book Search and Google Library Project (as well as similar efforts by Amazon and Microsoft) in relation to past attempts to collect, catalog, organize and search the world’s written record. Opening with description of Alfred Kazin researching his first book in 1938 at the New York Public Library, Grafton closes with the thought, “Sit in your local coffee shop, and your laptop can tell you a lot. If you want deeper, more local knowledge, you will have to take the narrower path that leads between the lions and up the stairs.”